Phil’s always a little pluggy in these video’s but it’s good nonetheless. Pay close attention to how far he hits the ground behind the ball.

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Ben Hogan, Pitching Wedges : http://golf-stuff.org/ben-hogan-apex-plus-pitching-wedge-steel-stiff-left-pw-golf/

I’m rooting for these girls to go far into the tournament. Buckhorn hasn’t won a state championship since 2004, so it’s time to bring it back home.

The Lankville Falls Crisply Moving Bisons edged The Balloons last night in the first Pondicherry Baseball Association Division of Leagues contest held at Ferdinand Buntz Memorial Park in Central Lankville City.  The final score was 3-2.  Attendance was reported as 992.

“Overall, I’d say we’re pleased,” noted Crisply Moving Bisons owner Shawn Meyer, brother of missing Plantain magnate Shane Meyer.  ”We failed to promote the event and it was raining and the field had not been manicured at all and was deeply rutted in places from where some hillbillies were riding those carts.  But it was a spirited contest nonetheless.”

Leaves Fisk had 3 hits and 2 RBI for the Bisons and southpaw Randy-Caesar Maldonado pitched four scoreless frames.  Shortstop Mel Delahanty homered for the Balloons.

“I thought it was great that there was some baseball again,” said Balloons fan Jerry Subbs, who followed an earlier incarnation of the franchise in the 1960s.  ”I mean, the evening was terribly marred by the fact that there was absolutely no food and that a lot of the players were clad in gym shorts but, hey, they’re just getting started.”

Subbs later perished when an enormous sinkhole suddenly opened in the earth.  He was never found.

Exhibition action will continue this evening as the Outer Depths Wipers host the Vitiello Decorative Hams at Depths Facial Tissue Plaza.

Is just a straight line,

With a start and an end.

*

Or if this time,

Is a curved line,

Like a circle, the time never ends.

*

Maybe this time,

Is made of a thousand lines,

Woven into the fabric of space.

*

For now all I know,

Is time keeps moving,

And only in one direction.

The Tribe’s offense has been on fire. Of the last 10 games, the Indians have scored at least 6 runs in 7 of them.

Much of the Indians offensive success can be attributed to the long-ball.

The Indians are tied with Toronto for most home runs in the American League (44). Last year, the Indians managed only 41 homers through their first 50 games, and finished 3^rd to last in the AL with only 136 homers on the season.

Mark Reynolds leads the Tribe and the AL in home runs (10).

Watch Reynolds’ 460-foot blast against Oakland here.

Additionally, Carlos Santana is playing like a budding superstar, and making it look easy. Santana ranks 3rd in the American League in hitting (.358), 2nd in OBP (.455), and 1st in both slugging percentage (.674) and OPS (1.129). It doesn’t get much better than that.

One of the scariest facets of this Tribe offense is the fact that every single night, anyone and everyone is capable of going off.

Nick Swisher (10 XBH), Reynolds (.280 avg, 10 HR, 27 RBI), Santana (.358 avg, 16 XBH), Michael Brantley (.297 avg), and Ryan Raburn (.333 avg, 10 XBH, 11 RBI) have led the way for the Indians offense, however nearly everyone has contributed.

Drew Stubbs hit a walk-off double against Minnesota last weekend, Mike Aviles (.283 avg, 2 HR, 12 RBI) has been a more than adequate utility-man, and even the gray Jason Giambi (.242 avg, 2 HR, 8 RBI) has come through with clutch hits.

Shortstop, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Second Baseman, Jason Kipnis, both got off to slow starts, but are showing signs of turning it around. Cabrera homered twice against Oakland on Monday night, and Kipnis has raised his average from a putrid .185 to .220 over the last 10 games. Additionally, Kipnis has collected 3 home runs and 8 RBI in that time span.

It appears that this Cleveland Indians offense is going to continue to get better and better, especially with the return of lead-off man, Michael Bourn, sometime in the next week.

The Indians rotation got off to a rocky start, but has steadied in recent weeks. Over the past 10 games, Tribe starters are 8-1 with an ERA under 3.

The emergence of Scott Kazmir and more specifically Zach McAllister (3-3, 2.63 ERA) have been welcome additions to a starting rotation that needed help in the worst way prior to the Indians’ 10-game hot streak.

Kazmir earned his first win since 2010 last weekend against the Twins, and seems to be regaining his old form. Kazmir could be this year’s Kevin Millwood, if he is able to continue to progress in his return from injury. Kazmir won at least 10 games, and had an ERA under 4 in the years 2005-2009 with Tampa Bay prior a series of nagging injuries that wiped him off the MLB map in the years 2010-2012.

The left-handed Kazmir has always had a talent. Hopefully his injuries remain in the rearview.

McAllister, 25, who was acquired from the Yankees for Austin Kearns in 2010 made 22 starts last year for the Tribe, and went 6-8 with a 4.24 ERA. McAllister is 3-3 this year with a 2.63 ERA, and is coming off the longest outing of his career (7.2 IP, 0 ER) which resulted in a 1-0 win against Oakland on Tuesday.

Each of McAllister’s starts in 2013 have been deemed “quality starts” (meaning at least 5 IP and no more than 3 ER). He has been the Indians most consistent pitcher to this point in the season, a pleasant surprise.

In addition to Kazmir and McAllister, right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez is finally starting to show some signs of life. Jimenez’ biggest enemy is himself. After horrid starts against New York and Boston, even Jimenez admitted to his struggles getting to him. However, he appears to be getting it back on track.

“The Big U” has pitched at least 5 innings, and gone 2-0 in his past three starts. Maybe the former National league Cy Young contender is finally starting to get his swagger back. If he continues to improve, Indians fans will see a pitcher who can make even the best hitters look silly.

With the dependable Justin Masterson (5-2, 3.67 ERA), Kazmir, McAllister, and Jimenez, the Indians starting rotation seems to be shaping up.

With Brett Myers on the DL, both Corey Kluber, and Trevor Bauer have been given opportunities. Bauer (acquired from Arizona in the Shin-Soo Choo trade) has been sent back to Triple-A Columbus due to control issues, and Kluber has been inserted into the 5^th slot in the rotation for now.

Kluber has pitched reasonably well in his last 2 starts, however if the Indians are still in contention in July, a trade for another bona-fide starting pitcher is likely.

Notes:

The Indians face-off against the division leading Tigers (19-12) in Detroit for 3 games this weekend.

“It may not happen the way you expect it or on your timetable, but God is a faithful God. It will happen.” – Joel Osteen

They did just that two nights in a row, behind the pitching of Cliff Lee and Kyle Kendrick and the bats of Chase Utley, who worked Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Howard, who also went yard.

The Giants came back in game three and prevented the sweep, but Sergio Romo blew a save preventing Barry Zito from getting a win after a great outing, and the Phillies forced a 10th inning before it was all over. Andres Torres was the hero tonight with a game-ending single with bases loaded to win it 4-3.

Starting Pitching

Pitching is getting better and though the starters were outpitched by their opponents in games one and two, Bumgarner and Lincecum hung in and lasted long. Bumgarner was stuck with three earned runs that the Giants petitioned to have removed (details). Timmy had 6Ks but gave up critical hits and homers to Utley and looked awkward when struck by a comebacker. Barry Zito was excellent and was robbed of a win by Sergio Romo tonight.

Relief

Relievers were struck with injury and bereavement as Jose Mijares had to leave to pay respects for the passing of his grandmother and Affeldt remained in injured reserve. Mijares got tagged in Game Two, his first game back, but it must have been very difficult to be out there after laying his grandmother to rest. He gave up a homer and two more hits, but managed two strikeouts and just one walk.

Sergio Romo got jacked and blew a save. Romo allowed Jimmy Rollins’ leadoff double, an RBI single to Chase Utley and Delmon Young’s tying sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.

Hitting

Oh whither did you go lumber and crack? The bats fell asleep all week as the Giants managed only 7 runs. Hunter Pence was effective throughout and Posey, Scutaro and Torres came through in the clutch in game three.

Not much else to report:  Phillies beat us good twice and we took back the last one.

For now though, the Giants season has been a sort of bizarro world. The starting pitching has been poor. The hitter has been good, if not great. The comebacks have been awesome. Who saw that coming?

Good vibes aside, for the Giants to have a shot at repeating they need to get better starting pitching. No way around that.

Here is my assessment thus far:

• Matt Cain has not been good, but the amount of home runs he has allowed do line up with his career averages. Some might argue that such an extreme fly ball pitcher is finally having the law of averages catch up with him, but I don’t see it continuing at this rate. More important, Cain’s control has been lacking. I see him righting the ship and being the ace. Level of Panic: low.
  
• Madison Bumgarner has had 6 great starts and one not so great start. No worries here. Madbum doesn’t have the video game stuff to dominate every time, so there will be times when it doesn’t go well. That said not worried. Level of Panic: extremely low.
• Tim Lincecum is the most maddening player in a Giants’ uniform since Barry Zito who is still in a Giants’ uniform. He can look so good on one pitch and so bad on another. Dominate a batter than watch the pitcher. Provide a ray of hope with a clean start and then dash it with another start ruined by the big inning. What do you do? I still hold out hope that he is smart enough, talented enough, and not injured enough to figure it out. Level of Panic: moderate.
• Barry Zito: Barry Zito is Barry Zito. I really don’t know how else to say it. Here’s what Barry Zito does: for every 5 starts, he will give 2 great turns, 2 good turns, and 1 huge turd of a turn. And that all works out to a perfectly acceptable league average 4th starter. Barry Zito. Level of Panic: low (Giants’ fans left panic a long time ago in regards to Zito).
• Ryan Vogelsong: Ryan Vogelsong is the baseball definition of house money. In 2011 he was around to do one thing and one thing only: provide rotation depth. He started the season in AAA and only came up because of Jonathan Sanchez (remember him). Then it was because of Barry Zito. He made the All-Star team and it was a great story, but it was never part of the plan. And then it got even better. Another good season and a post-season transformation into THE ACE. But, when does the clock strike midnight and the coach turn back into a pumpkin? It might have happened, in a way, last August. It sure seems like it is happening now. The problem is that Vogey is now part of the plan. So, where do we go from here if this is the end of the line? Level of Panic: Red Alert!

So, what happens now? The hot rumor of the week is the Giants should go after Cliff Lee should the Phillies continue their downward spiral (a spiral the Giants are not helping in this current series).

The Cliff Lee idea is not unlike an idea I proposed this offseason which you can read about here. (By the way, Anibal Sanchez is off to a GREAT start).

Do the Giants pursue this?

Here’s the case against Lee:

• He is old. 35 in August. 
• He has an injury history. Been on the DL at least once in each of the past four seasons.
• He is expensive. $25 mil for the next 3 years (including 2013).

Here’s the case for Lee:

• He is very good. He is even better in the post-season.
• The Giants could move Lincecum or Vogelsong to the bullpen.
• The Giants will lose some combination of Lincecum, Vogelsong, and Zito after this season. Their good young arms are probably not going to be ready for opening day 2014. They will need outside help at some point to fill out the rotation, so why not Cliff Lee.

A couple of other factors. First, would the Phillies even want to do this? Maybe, they could get financial relief and some prospects. Second, would the Giants have what it takes to pull this off? Maybe…but their thin system would essentially be depleted. Third, Cliff Lee has a limited no-trade clause. The Giants could be one of the 21 teams on that list.

If the Giants could pull this off by trading only 1 decent prospect, than I say do it. They can manage the expense (especially with Lincecum, Pence, and potentially Zito coming off the books at the end of the year).

If it requires 2-3 top prospects, I say no.

It’s a long season and we are still just getting started. While the early returns have not been great from this rotation, there is plenty of time to right the ship. As bad as it’s been, the Giants are only a half game out of first place.

So, true panic should not set in until June. Let’s hope this magical group of five, who have been so good the last several years, turn it around quickly.

(-SB)

A couple of days ago, I made a prediction about how the Phils would fare against Tim Lincecum aka ‘The Freak’ and I could not have been more wrong. You can read about that prediction here.

Phillies’ pitcher Kyle Kendrick displayed a coolness on the mound last night, constantly getting ahead of hitters in the count 0 – 1, 0 – 2. Lincecum, on the other hand, was falling behind hitters in his seven innings of work. This created a situation where the Phillies could look for a fastball.

Speaking of Lincecum’s fastball, I was looking at some numbers on FanGraphs.com that could explain why he’s been struggling this season. In 2008 and 2009, Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young Award which is given to the best pitcher in each league. In 2008, Lincecum’s fastball velocity was 94 miles per hour while the velocity on his change-up was 83.3 miles per hour, a difference of just under 11 miles per hour. Obviously this worked for him as hitters didn’t know whether something hard or something soft was coming. He threw fastballs 65% of the time and his change-up 15% of the time. In 2009, he knew that hitters were going to adjust to him so he added a two-seam fastball to his repertoire. This is basically a fastball with horizontal movement. His fastball velocity in 2009 dropped to 92 miles an hour but he threw in this “two-seamer” at 89 miles per hour. Despite adding this pitch, he relied less on his regular four-seam fastball, using it only 55% of the time. But he increased his curveball percentage to 18% since his change-up velocity stayed at 83 miles per hour. The difference between the velocity of his fastball and his changeup was only nine miles per hour. A two-mile-per-hour drop doesn’t sound like much but with pitching, it can mean everything.

With pitchers, it’s all about deception. If a pitcher can only throw two pitches effectively, hitters are going to be looking for one or the other. When a pitcher can throw at least one more pitch effectively, maybe a curveball, hitters need to be more selective when identifying what’s coming out of the pitcher’s hand. It makes sense.

This season, Lincecum is relying on his fastball more than he has had to since 2008 (58.1%) and his slider more than he has had to in his career (17.9%) but neither of those pitches are considered effective pitches for him anymore, according to FanGraphs.

I made the predictions in the previous post based on how the Phillies were hitting (or not hitting) against the Marlins. The metrics I’m talking about here are descriptive, rather than predictive. Had I looked at Lincecum’s pitch type, pitch velocity and pitch percentage before last night’s game, I never would have guessed he’d surrender five earned runs in seven innings of work. Which proves once again: the only games that should be played on paper are Hangman and Tic-Tac-Toe.

The Jays then beat the Rays 6-4.

A trick worm is a tried and true bait that should be a go to for any fisherman, It’s a bait that can finesse bass into biting when they normally wouldn’t. I always have a bag of them in my tackle box.

Basically, A trick worm is a strait worm with a flat bottom, bulbous pointed tail end, and a curved shape. The design of this bait is very unique, it has a streamline body that allows it to be worked through cover very easily, and side through the water, without much resistance. Also, the bulbous tail end of the bait is designed to sink much slower than the rest of the bait, and sometimes is even designed to trap air bubbles to make it sink even slower. This gives the bait incredible tail action, inciting fish into biting.

I’ve fished the Zoom Trick Worm for many years, and I’ve had a lot of success. In 2011, I fished this bait on a shaky head at the Ohio Youth State Bass Fishing Tournament at O’Shaughnessy Reservoir. Out of 83 people, I landed 9th place with a solid bag a bass.

My friend Maggie has also taken a liking to the trick worm. She went fishing a few days ago, and she doesn’t have a lot of experience fishing. She truly didn’t expect to catch anything. But as soon as she threw on the trick worm, she managed to catch a nice size largemouth. Needless to say, I was extremely proud of her.

Now, fishing the trick worm will catch you fish more often than most baits, but smaller fish tend to be more attracted to the bait than bigger ones. It also is vulnerable to bluegill because of its thin tail. This makes the bait a fun worm to throw, but a difficult bait to win a tournament with. I would rank the trick worm an 8 out of 10.

            As I told you before, I don’t believe in the first page. As a reader, I’ve never been sold on a book by the first page. On the other hand, there are many agents and publishers that are, so that is a huge hurdle one must overcome to get anywhere in the publishing world. I’m bringing this up because as I listened to the agents critiquing the first pages being read during our Friday lunch, a few things struck me. Universal things that should apply to any story.

            First, there’s nothing wrong with getting to the point. Sounds simple enough, right? You wouldn’t believe how many first pages don’t do that. The author goes to all ends to try and impress the reader with their command of the English language by describing minute details about either the scene or the character. By the time we get to the bottom of the page, nothing has happened yet. You don’t have to necessarily slam bang the reader right off, but that’s not a bad idea. On the first page, you should at least move someplace.

            Second, something I’m guilty of only once, I found out that it’s a terrible cliché to open a story with the character waking up. I’ve never read a story with a character waking up before. Yet, somehow that snuck into the reading world as a worn out cliché. What’s even worse is the cliché I did know about, having a character look in a mirror to describe themselves. Even worse is to use it on the first page. In one of my stories, I have my character wake up and look in the mirror! Of course, I knew about the mirror cliché and use it for special effect, but also now I have myself a double whammy to fix.

            Third, if you’re going to have some kind of action on the first page, which you should, it should go somewhere. It should lead the reader in the direction of the plot. It shouldn’t be a random scene for effect to either introduce the character, one of their flaws or strengths, or to tell a joke. The first scene should always have something to do with the story (that joke could be there if it’s relevant to the plot). Save descriptive scenes for later in the book where they can do no harm. They should be short and sweet, not jarring, not listy but also shouldn’t set the reader off on the wrong foot. Everything has its’ place.

            Fourth is to make sure the tone of the first page matches what you’re trying to accomplish with the rest of the story. Don’t start with a slam bang then shift gears, never to return to that style. What??? Don’t jerk your reader around.

            There are probably more things I’m missing, but I got those four points just listening to those agents and pondering later what they didn’t say. Very few of them made it all the way through a first page without raising their hands that they’d stop reading.

            The first page should be solid and the foundation of what is to come. It doesn’t have to blow the reader away, but it should not waste their time. Every word, every page counts. At the same time, I never judge a book by the first page. It sets a tone, but there isn’t enough room on a half to three quarters of a page to do much.

            I look for point of view (third person, past tense), the genre (of course), the book blurb (which doesn’t coincide with the actual story half the time anyway), the author, the cover art, the print size and even the smell of the pages. I also leaf through as I’m checking for point of view to see how much empty space (as in dialogue) is there and if the author likes full page paragraphs (which usually means the author likes to drone on). Once I start reading, it’s not until I get to the third or fourth chapter that I get a feel for the story. Then I can tell if the book is going to be good or is going to suck. Of course, it could all come crashing down if the hero dies in the end, but that’s another story!

            Happy writing.

You did it! You made it through month 1 of the fantasy season in (relatively) good condition and are sitting somewhere on the plus side in the win to loss column. Those of you currently in the bottom half of the standings for your fantasy leagues however, shouldn’t try to worry too much. For 1 month doesn’t destroy your fantasy season, unless of course it is the playoff month but there is still plenty of time left in the fantasy and real life seasons for your teams to turn it around, and like your fantasy teams there have been some lackluster pitching performances turned in by pitchers whom big things were expected of this year. What we see in the fantasy community all the time is a wide sweeping and fast overreaction to these early performances in the season turned in by pitchers when their fantasy numbers look a little skewed due to limited sample size and this leads to players, pitchers especially to be underrated in terms of value from that point moving forward. This leads to all kinds of sweet deals in the trade and waiver wire markets in leagues and is what can help a team make the last to first turnaround come playoff time. Here are some pitchers that have clearance sale price tags on them right now and whom are worth stashing if they can be had on the discount or if they are available in your league.

1. David Price

  2013 Stats: 1-3/ 6.25 ERA/ 1.48 WHIP/ 40K-12BB

The WTF stat: Price’s HR/FB rate is currently at a bloated 20.5%, his career norm is 9.7%

Outlook: A lot has been made about the apparent fastball velocity drop this season from the Rays ace, but the more concerning thing for me is the sudden lack of vertical break on his curve. Throughout his career price has had an average of 5.29 inches of vertical drop on his curveball and has been a definite out-pitch for him ever since he scrapped the slider and started throwing a cutter starting back in 2011. In 2013, the average drop on the 109 curveballs that he has thrown has been 2.45 inches. The 2.84 inch difference may not seem like much (that’s what she said), but in baseball especially with a dangerous hitter at the plate it is enough to completely blow all of your plans to shit. Through the first month him not having a feel for his curve has caused him to leave more mistake fastballs over the plate in hitters counts and the hitters have been able to just sit back on it because they aren’t having to worry about the normally dangerous breaking stuff from Price. These problems can be corrected once Price rights the timing in his mechanics and I’m willing to bet that he will be back to his former self sooner rather than later as he faces Toronto twice and the Red Sox with 2 of the 3 starts coming in the pitcher friendly confines of the Trop. If you can buy Price for any discount at all from his owner than do so now because he is bound to turn it around.

2. Jonathon Niese

  2013 Stats: 2-3/ 4.66 ERA/ 1.66 WHIP/ 20K-19BB

The WTF stat: Despite all the issues with the walks Niese is posting a career best GB% at 54.8%.

Outlook: For a pitcher who’s main pitching strategy is to pitch to contact, Niese sure has walked a lot of batters so far this year. He is really struggling at putting hitters away with 2 strikes especially when he is ahead of the count. Hitters are able to work his pitch count up early in games and see a lot of pitches because they know that for some reason he isn’t throwing strikes when he is up 0-2 or 1-2 on hitters this year. This leads to harder contact when those batters come back around the 2nd or 3rd time in the order which is a concern when you don’t necessarily have the most talented bullpen in the world to hand the ball to. The struggles with finding the strike zone can like almost always be traced back to mistiming in Niese’s delivery, some of which the Mets broadcast announcers blame the bad weather for. I think they are reaching a little there but Niese has better pure stuff when everything is going right than the numbers indicate and he has even been dropped in a number of leagues. Matchup play in standard 10 team leagues but in NL-only and any deeper mixed league he is someone to buy low on in hopes that he turns it around here in May.

3. Wei-Yin Chen

  2013 Stats: 2-3/ 3.50 ERA/ 1.19 WHIP/ 22K-12BB

The WTF Stat: Batters have an OBP of .365 when batting with no one on. That goes down to just .220 with when men are on base.

Outlook: The poor man’s Hiroki Kuroda gets about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield even after the 192.2 Innings he pitched as a rookie last year. Chen will work deep enough into games to keep his team in the game with a primarily 3 pitch mix of fastball/slider/change-up. He hasa nice easy delivery from the left side and is athletic enough to be an average fielder at the position. Currently owned in just 21.1% of ESPN leagues Chen is a good bet to pitch 200 average to above average innings in the major leagues and can be a valuable asset to your fantasy rotation keeping your ERA and WHIP down while adding a bit of a boost in terms of strikeouts 18.8% K% during his rookie season. He is a good bet to also pick up a handful of wins as the O’s offense is near the top in the AL in terms of run production.

Quick Hits

1. Jarrod Parker (1-5/ 7.34 ERA/ 1.98 WHIP): More mechanical timing issues, command has gone to hell, as bad as the numbers are gonna look should be picked up with the “nowhere to go but up” mentality, spot start and watch for more consistent release points on his pitches.
2. Bud Norris (3-3/ 3.89 ERA/ 1.54 WHIP): May not get many wins pitching for the Astros, but is probably going to be one of the first on the way out if they trade a starter, will put up strikeout numbers and knows how to generate weak contact, use against all but the best offenses.
3. Jose Quintana (2-0/ 3.86 ERA/ 1.26 WHIP): Good control pitcher, just 9 walks in 32.2IP, doesn’t hurt himself and does a good job of staying in games. Figures to be in the Sox rotation all year.
4. Ross Detwiler (1-3/ 2.50 ERA/ 1.39 WHIP): Lack of respect due to lack of strikeouts, still pitches quality innings, chance for wins if he starts getting run support, good back end support for your rotation and should be a start every time out of the gate.
5. Kevin Slowey (1-2/ 1.81 ERA/ o.94 WHIP): Ride the hot hand, easily the best starter for the Marlins this season, has kicked up his strikeout rate a little to start the season, putting up great numbers yet isn’t owned in as many leagues as he should be.

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A recommended read — whether your allegiance is to the Mets or to the Jays. Seriously, how epic is his hair?

I’m the first to admit I knew nothing about the guy before he was announced as one of the new Jays, so R.A. Dickey was tabula rasa before I cracked the spine. (Who am I kidding? I’m one of those anal-retentive types who can’t abide used-looking books on my bookcase. My copy’s spine remains pristine.) The book helped fill in at least some of the blanks, and despite its curiously detached style (you never really get a sense of what R.A.’s like as a person off the field, which is always what I’m hoping for a glimpse of in an autobiography), it succeeds in establishing the outline of a pitcher, and I’d recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the game, or any of the teams Dickey’s been a part of in his predictably unpredictable journey through the ranks of the MLB.

Here are six things that DO become clear about R.A. Dickey in “Wherever I Wind Up”:

6. He has the *best* hair. My first glimpse of Dickey was during the Blue Jays press conference this January, and although his trademark brushed-back locks were on display, they’re nothing like the veritable mane he sports on the cover of “Wherever I Wind Up.” Like, move over Joe Mauer — Dickey should seriously be getting some hair product endorsement offers after that photoshoot. Long, luxuriant and immaculately coiffed in a windswept sort of way, I’m tempted to bring the dust jacket to my hairdresser as the template for my next ‘do.

5. He almost died in an attempt to swim the Missouri River. In what’s probably the book’s most dramatic sequence, Dickey recounts his poorly thought-out scheme to prove… Well… Something… To himself by tackling the tumultuous torrent of sewage that is the Missouri River. Needless to say, the swim doesn’t go as planned, but the event still serves to put Dickey’s priorities in order during a particularly troubled time in his adult life.

4. He’s never had a drop of alcohol. Ever. In LIFE. Props, brah. I wish I had a hundredth of that willpower.

3. Really bad ish has happened to him. If you watched the 60 Minutes segment on Dickey (and if you haven’t, I strongly recommend checking it out here), you know about this already, but Dickey’s story begins with a childhood that’s marred by horrific abuse. Although never graphic or salacious in any way, it’s still enough to alternately sicken and break your heart that a child could ever go through this, and go through it alone. The courage it must have taken for him to share his story speaks volumes about the man. Respect.

2. He’s done bad ish, too. In the end, Dickey’s as human as the next guy, and even though he’s teetotal, he’s the first to admit he’s no saint. His various confessions include breaking and entering homes just for somewhere to sleep away from an unhappy home as a teen, cheating on his wife, and even considering suicide before he ultimately begins to seek counseling to put his childhood demons to rest.

1. He’s a guy I’d like to meet. As I mentioned above, there’s a curiously detached style to Dickey’s writing, and the journalist in me is DYING for an opportunity to scratch the surface a bit further. He seems like a genuinely kind and caring human being and a real enigma, and I think a large part of that is down to his loyalty to his wife, family and friends, and a strong desire to keep their private lives private.

Have you read “Wherever I Wind Up?” What were your thoughts on R.A.’s autobiography? I’d love to hear your feedback in the Comments section below.

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Every week I get one or two companies who come into XSeed and ask if it is okay to pitch “without using a presentation.”

“Let’s just have a conversation,” they usually say.

I always oblige and see how it goes. What I have noticed, however, is that these meetings are very ineffective a high percentage of the time.

It isn’t that I’m a fan of PowerPoint; I agree with the idea that presentation tools can constrain one’s message and creativity if not used properly.

As I listened recently to an entrepreneur’s pitch that was drifting all over the map, I remembered a conversation with my first boss at Intel, Avram Miller. I was about to have my first one-on-one meeting with him, and I asked how he wanted me to communicate. Should I use a memo? Slides? Notes?  

I’ll never forget his reply:

“I don’t care if you strip naked, shave your body, and use smoke signals — just be effective in communicating the key points you need to get across.”

I love that advice. For companies pitching a venture capitalist, I can’t give better counsel than that.

If you are presenting to a VC and don’t want to use slides, be sure you quickly communicate the following:

1. Be specific on what product you are building.
2. Give examples of who your customers are, how many of them there might be and why they will buy your solution (what is the specific problem that you are solving).
3. State clearly against whom you compete and why your solution is better than theirs.
4. Be specific on how big a business opportunity this is and what revenues will look like in three to five years.
5. State where you are in your company formation process: prototype/demo/alpha/ beta/revenues, etc.

If you don’t use slides, you should be able to communicate these answers in 15 to 30 minutes, even if you are interrupted frequently with questions.

While there is a sexiness and aura of confidence in “flying without a net,” be sure you clearly answer the usual questions that investors need to know. You can have a deck as backup and refer to it as needed, but be very careful that you don’t meander in your meeting such that you don’t efficiently give essential information around your firm’s opportunity.

VCs often see hundreds of companies a month. Your job is to separate us from our money. Make that as easy on yourself as you can.

If you choose not to use a presentation and you discuss the above items effectively, you have a good chance of appearing confident and on top of key issues that will face your startup. VCs love knowledgeable and thoughtful entrepreneurs.

Be aware, however, that the risk of not using a presentation is that you come across as unprepared and disorganized regarding the issues which are critical to the people on the other side of the table.

Be careful that you don’t use the strategy of “just having a conversation” as an excuse for not being prepared and not leading the meeting in a proper direction.

Image via docpop/Flickr

Robert Siegel is a General Partner at XSeed Capital, bringing extensive innovative leadership in strategy definition, operational execution, and international sales and marketing for companies large and small. He is currently on faculty at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, has co-authored several articles for California Management Review, and served as lead researcher for Andy Grove’s book Only the Paranoid Survive. This post originally appeared on his blog.

Obviously, Darvish has some filthy stuff. This GIF below showing five Darvish pitches overlaid on each other has made its way around the internet the last week, and it is too trippy and mind-blowing not to share. Just look at how each pitch seems to dart in a completely different direction to get an idea of Darvish’s arsenal of pitches.

This GIF shows five different pitches: a four-seam fastball, two-seamer, sinker, slow curve and slider. He has also thrown a cutter with regularity this season. While most starters have three, maybe four, pitches they throw with confidence, Darvish has six! He has thrown his slider about 37% this season, four-seam fastball 25%, cutter 16%, two-seam fastball 12%, curveball 5%, and sinker 4%. A pitcher like Justin Verlander will throw either a fastball or changeup 75% of the time.

The chart below from FanGraphs shows all of Darvish’s pitches this year graphed by vertical/horizontal movement and release point. The four pitches on the upper part of the graph on the left side are his fastball derivations. The four-seam is dark blue, two-seam is light blue, the sinker in orange, and the cutter is purple. The offspeed pitches are red for slider and teal for curveball. Can you tell which of these pitches are which in the GIF?

When Darvish doesn’t feel confident with one of his pitches, he has five other devastating pitches to rely upon during the course of a game. So far this season, Darvish has had the most success with his slider. He gets batters to swing and miss at that pitch almost 24% of the time, and hitters swing at it 45% of the time he throws it out of the strike zone. So when contact is made, it is generally poor contact.

When hitters are batting .155 on his slider, why would Darvish throw anything else? Well, because they are hitting .097 on his four-seam, .208 on his cutter, and .100 on his two-seam. That is devastating stuff. Mix in a 67 mph curveball with his 92 mph four-seam and 81 mph slider, it’s no surprise Darvish makes professional hitters look overmatched.

Some people are comparing Darvish’s array of quality pitches to Pedro Martinez during his prime. From the late 90′s to when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, Pedro had one of the best pitching stretches of all time. His 1999 season was perhaps the best season in the modern era of baseball. Only Steve Carlton* in 1972 posted a better WAR than Pedro did in 1999. Basically, any comparison to Pedro is impressive.

*It’s worth your time to read this Deadspin article about how crazy Carlton became after his playing career. Interesting stuff.

Thru Darvish’s 7 starts this season, he has a higher strikeout rate of 40.5% than Pedro had in any season. Small sample size absolutely applies in this case, but Pedro was never above 38% in a season. No doubt Darvish is doing some great stuff, and I hope he’s able to keep missing bats at the rate he is missing them this season. Now, I need to do some research on how AJ Pierzynski is able to give signs for all 6 of Darvish’s pitches.

Game 27: Jeurys Familia

It’s a bit odd to give a guy who reliever up a solo HR the nod, but it’s more for his work the previous inning. Niese was completely off his game, with no control of his fastball and abandoning his breaking pitches early. He gave up 7 Earned Runs in 4 innings, and more disconcerting were the six walks. He left the bases loaded in the 4th before departing, and Familia had to clean up the mess. He did give up two of Niese’s runs off a soft hit single that found the hole on the left side of the infield. After that, he quickly and rather quietly disposed of the Braves on soft liners and a strikeout.

As I said, it was far from a great performance. However, he limited the damage early enough that the Mets could have made a comeback. The 4th inning could, and by most right should, have been a lot worse.

This may be the last time we see Familia here for a while. Frank Francisco completed his first set of back-to-back on his rehab assignment, so his return to the bullpen is likely to be nearing. Familia having options is the most likely to be sent down.

Game 27: David Wright

It was not enough to get past Niese’s struggles, but The Captain did what he could: 2-3, two runs, 2 RBIs and a home run. It’s too bad for the off day…..I would have liked Mets to have kept playing right away to keep his streak going.

Pitcher of the Game Scoreboard:

Matt Harvey: 6

Jonathan Niese: 5

Jeremy Hefner: 3

Scott Atchinson: 2

Bobby Parnell: 3

Jeurys Familia: 2

Dillon Gee: 2

Greg Burke: 1

Josh Edgin: 1

Brandon Lyon: 1

Shaun Marcum: 1

Scott Rice: 1

Jordany Valdespin: 1

Position Player of the Game Scoreboard:

John Buck: 7

David Wright: 6

Daniel Murphy: 3

Reuben Tejada: 3

Marlon Byrd: 2

Colin Cowgill: 2

Ike Davis: 1

Lucas Duda: 1

Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 1

Justin Turner: 1

Special Thanks to Sean Engel for the Kiner’s Korner Pitcher and Position Player of the Game graphics. You can follow him on twitter with the handle @SeanEngel05

Posted by Robert Z

Game 27: Bobby Parnell

I had missed this game and was struggling to pick a pitcher based on recaps and box scores. Here are some #MetsTwitter thoughts and suggestion:

@rob_zloto @kinerskorner Parnell

— TRAIDCY (@EpideMets) May 5, 2013

 

@rob_zloto @kinerskorner Parnell. Survived a massively high leverage situation. WPA has him as the clear pitching leader in the game.

— Jeffrey Paternostro (@jeffpaternostro) May 5, 2013

 

@rob_zloto @kinerskorner Parnell. Familia was impressive, but the game doesn’t get there without Parnell.

— Mark Ethe (@TooGooden16) May 5, 2013

Game 27: David Wright

This was quite a bit easier. Wright’s Home Run may not have won the game, but getting any run off Atlanta’s star closer Craig Kimbel, and the magnitude of tying a game in the top of the ninth is about as big as it could get.

It was a bit of an odd night for an Atlanta game. It’s not often you see Mets hit three home runs (Buck, Duda) at Turner Field.

Pitcher of the Game Scoreboard:

Matt Harvey: 6

Jonathan Niese: 5

Jeremy Hefner: 3

Scott Atchinson: 2

Bobby Parnell: 3

Dillon Gee: 2

Greg Burke: 1

Josh Edgin: 1

Jeurys Familia: 1

Brandon Lyon: 1

Shaun Marcum: 1

Scott Rice: 1

Jordany Valdespin: 1

Position Player of the Game Scoreboard:

John Buck: 7

David Wright: 5

Daniel Murphy: 3

Reuben Tejada: 3

Marlon Byrd: 2

Colin Cowgill: 2

Ike Davis: 1

Lucas Duda: 1

Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 1

Justin Turner: 1

Special Thanks to Sean Engel for the Kiner’s Korner Pitcher and Position Player of the Game graphics. You can follow him on twitter with the handle @SeanEngel05

Posted by Robert Z

The Texas Rig is the bait that I use more often than any other rig because, in my opinion, you can fish more baits on it that any other rig. You can throw a worm, a tube, a beaver, a fluke, a swim bait, and so much more.  Shaky heads and drop shots are great, but they cant’ match the versatility of this bait.

I fished a spinner bait for the first hour of the day and caught a couple small bass. Then, I tied on a Gambler Ugly Otter with a 1/4 oz. Texas rig, flipper toward a log, and worked my bait back. My line jumped, I set the hook as hard as I could, and ended up pulling out a 2 pounder, a solid catch. Flipped back in, and BANG, pulled out a 2.5 pounder. Flipped back in again, and again, BANG, caught a 3 pounder! Three fish off one bush!!!

Today, The bass wanted the bait slow. My favorite way to fish a Texas rig is to tie on a flippin’ bait, like a tube, or a beaver, cast as close as I can to the cover, and drag my bait back across the bottom. If you cover your water well, this technique will catch bass that normally, wouldn’t have been caught. It puts a big bait right in front of their face, and keep it there as long as possible, they can’t resist. Try it, I guarantee you can catch fish!

I picture two scenarios: the first being a sandlot full of kids where the batter is throwing a tantrum because he and everyone else on the field knows damn well the pitcher is doctoring the pitch but the kid on the mound denies everything, saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why don’t you just hit the ball you sissy?” The second is a bunch of grown men back when there were teams like the St. Louis Browns and the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Its a real rough-and-tumble group of guys with the pitcher being a big, clean shaven dude, most likely a dapper Dan man, and he keeps getting a smirk on his face before every pitch. Much like the sandlot situation, the batter complains about what is going on but is told to “suck an egg” or whatever they said back in the day.

Unfortunately, neither of those situations played out in Toronto.

What did play out was Buchholz pitching 7.0 innings, 0 earned runs, 8 K’s and 2 hits in the 10-1 romp of the bluebirds. Just another notch in his belt that is this season; the guy is killing it with 6 wins in 6 starts and an ERA of 1.37.

In a sport that is plagued by PED’s, it is a shame that an athlete cannot do well without having rumors of cheating swirl over their head. Why is it so hard for some people to believe that it took him a few seasons to find a rhythm and is just finally comfortable on the mound? Why can’t people just watch baseball with shock and awe at how freakishly talented these guys are? I’m always embarrassed of myself when someone is killing it in a sport and it takes a SportsCenter anchor to tell me I should have been thinking PED’s this whole time. But then I think, shouldn’t we watch sports to be entertained? Isn’t that the point of sports? Is it too passive of me to let other people figure out if someone is cheating while I’m here hooting and hollering about how well he is doing?

These questions are only semi rhetorical. I try and figure this out all the time and I don’t know what the right answer it.

I do see the arguments though. He is performing exceptionally well and all the while is suspiciously “wet” on the mound. Buchholz hair is sopping, his arm is glistening  and he keeps wiping at the arm that appears to be covered rosin. So he’s not helping himself out to prove he’s not cheating. And if he was cheating, he’d be hard pressed to keep doing it what with the microscope he will be under and all.

That’s all I got for this guy right now. I personally hope he keeps doing well. According to ESPN, he is 2 wins short of tying the Redsox record set by The Babe.

Clay Buchholz: won first 6 starts. Via Elias: He’s 2 shy of Red Sox record for consecutive starts won to start season- held by Babe Ruth!

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 6, 2013

The only true issue I see in this entire picture is Buchholz shirt. When he was confronted about all of this, he goes, “Are they talking about the stains on my shirt? There probably are stains on my shirt, because I’ve been wearing the same shirt for the last three years.”

…..Why has he been wearing the same shirt for three years….

I guess there are some questions we may never know the answers to.